Latest news with #Canadian-American
Calgary Herald
8 hours ago
- Business
- Calgary Herald
Carney hints retaliation is coming for Trump's latest steel and aluminum tariffs
Article content OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney said his government will take 'some time but not much' to respond to U.S. President Donald Trump's 50 per cent tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum that came into force today. Article content 'The latest tariffs on steel and aluminum are unjustified, they're illegal, they're bad for American workers, bad for American industry, and of course for Canadian industry as well,' he told reporters Wednesday morning as he was entering his caucus meeting. Article content Article content Article content Carney said Canada currently has counter-tariffs in a gross amount, before remissions, on over $90 billion of U.S. imports, and said those remain in place. But given the devastating impacts these new tariffs will have on Canadian industries, there is pressure to retaliate. Article content Article content 'We are in intensive discussions right now with the Americans on the trading relationship. Those discussions are progressing,' said Carney. Article content 'I would note that the American action is a global action, it's not one targeted at Canada, so we will take some time but not more before responding,' he added. Article content Ontario Premier Doug Ford said it was his understanding Canada is 'close to making a deal' with the U.S. but said he would still like to see retaliatory tariffs. Article content On Tuesday, Trump signed an executive ordering raising U.S. tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports from 25 per cent to 50 per cent starting at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. Article content Article content The move deals a significant blow to a key Canadian export, with industry groups warning that steel and aluminum producers are reeling from the noticeable drop in American imports. Article content More than 90 per cent of Canada's steel and aluminum is exported to the United States, according to 2024 federal government statistics. Article content 'They are illegal. These make no sense. They're hurting the Canadian-American relationship terribly,' said Terry Sheehan, the Liberal MP for Sault Ste. Marie—Algoma which is home to Algoma Steel, of Trump's latest tariffs on steel and aluminum. Article content Sheehan said he is encouraging the government to fight back like it did in 2018, when Trump imposed a 25 per cent tariff on steel and a 10 per cent tariff on aluminum imports, to cause maximum pain for the Americans and minimum impact on Canadian industries.
Vancouver Sun
8 hours ago
- Business
- Vancouver Sun
Carney hints retaliation is coming for Trump's latest steel and aluminum tariffs
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney said his government will take 'some time but not much' to respond to U.S. President Donald Trump's 50 per cent tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum that came into force today. 'The latest tariffs on steel and aluminum are unjustified, they're illegal, they're bad for American workers, bad for American industry, and of course for Canadian industry as well,' he told reporters Wednesday morning as he was entering his caucus meeting. Carney said Canada currently has counter-tariffs in a gross amount, before remissions, on over $90 billion of U.S. imports, and said those remain in place. But given the devastating impacts these new tariffs will have on Canadian industries, there is pressure to retaliate. Start your day with a roundup of B.C.-focused news and opinion. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. A welcome email is on its way. If you don't see it, please check your junk folder. The next issue of Sunrise will soon be in your inbox. Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. 'We are in intensive discussions right now with the Americans on the trading relationship. Those discussions are progressing,' said Carney. 'I would note that the American action is a global action, it's not one targeted at Canada, so we will take some time but not more before responding,' he added. Ontario Premier Doug Ford said it was his understanding Canada is 'close to making a deal' with the U.S. but said he would still like to see retaliatory tariffs. On Tuesday, Trump signed an executive ordering raising U.S. tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports from 25 per cent to 50 per cent starting at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. The move deals a significant blow to a key Canadian export, with industry groups warning that steel and aluminum producers are reeling from the noticeable drop in American imports. More than 90 per cent of Canada's steel and aluminum is exported to the United States, according to 2024 federal government statistics. 'They are illegal. These make no sense. They're hurting the Canadian-American relationship terribly,' said Terry Sheehan, the Liberal MP for Sault Ste. Marie—Algoma which is home to Algoma Steel, of Trump's latest tariffs on steel and aluminum. Sheehan said he is encouraging the government to fight back like it did in 2018, when Trump imposed a 25 per cent tariff on steel and a 10 per cent tariff on aluminum imports, to cause maximum pain for the Americans and minimum impact on Canadian industries. 'We've got to continue to hit back hard, and I will encourage that and then make sure that every dollar is used to support my workers and my steel industry,' he said. Peter Fragiskatos, the Liberal MP for London Centre, said he has also been hearing from industries in southwestern Ontario and said 'there's deep anxiety, to say the least.' In his executive order, Trump once again accused foreign countries of offloading lower priced steel and aluminum into the American market, undercutting the domestic industry. 'In my judgment, the increased tariffs will more effectively counter foreign countries that continue to offload low-priced, excess steel and aluminum in the United States market and thereby undercut the competitiveness of the United States steel and aluminum industries,' it read. — With files from Christopher Nardi, Antoine Tr é panier and Stephanie Taylor. More to come… National Post calevesque@ Our website is the place for the latest breaking news, exclusive scoops, longreads and provocative commentary. Please bookmark and sign up for our newsletters here .
Ottawa Citizen
8 hours ago
- Business
- Ottawa Citizen
Carney hints retaliation is coming for Trump's latest steel and aluminum tariffs
OTTAWA — Prime Minister Mark Carney said his government will take 'some time but not much' to respond to U.S. President Donald Trump's 50 per cent tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum that came into force today. Article content 'The latest tariffs on steel and aluminum are unjustified, they're illegal, they're bad for American workers, bad for American industry, and of course for Canadian industry as well,' he told reporters Wednesday morning as he was entering his caucus meeting. Article content Article content Article content Carney said Canada currently has counter-tariffs in a gross amount, before remissions, on over $90 billion of U.S. imports, and said those remain in place. But given the devastating impacts these new tariffs will have on Canadian industries, there is pressure to retaliate. Article content Article content 'We are in intensive discussions right now with the Americans on the trading relationship. Those discussions are progressing,' said Carney. Article content 'I would note that the American action is a global action, it's not one targeted at Canada, so we will take some time but not more,' he added. Article content Ontario Premier Doug Ford said it was his understanding Canada is 'close to making a deal' with the U.S. but said he would still like to see retaliatory tariffs. Article content On Tuesday, Trump signed an executive ordering raising U.S. tariffs on all steel and aluminum imports from 25 per cent to 50 per cent starting at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. Article content Article content The move deals a significant blow to a key Canadian export, with industry groups warning that steel and aluminum producers are reeling from the noticeable drop in American imports. Article content More than 90 per cent of Canada's steel and aluminum is exported to the United States, according to 2024 federal government statistics. Article content 'They are illegal. These make no sense. They're hurting the Canadian-American relationship terribly,' said Terry Sheehan, the Liberal MP for Sault Ste. Marie—Algoma which is home to Algoma Steel, of Trump's latest tariffs on steel and aluminum. Article content Sheehan said he is encouraging the government to fight back like it did in 2018, when Trump imposed a 25 per cent tariff on steel and a 10 per cent tariff on aluminum imports, to cause maximum pain for the Americans and minimum impact on Canadian industries.
The Hindu
6 days ago
- Lifestyle
- The Hindu
What did you do this weekend?
Every Monday morning, in the liminal space between work and routine, a familiar question drifts through India's cities. It's heard in the offices of Bengaluru, on the terraces of Bandra, in the awkward silence before Zoom calls begin: 'So… what did you do this weekend?' It sounds innocent enough — small talk, a social placeholder. But like all good rituals, it's loaded. For many young urban Indians, it's less about plans than projection, and more about who you were while doing it. This is the hidden psychology of modern leisure. In the language of Erving Goffman, the 20th-century Canadian-American sociologist who likened life to a stage, we've moved our weekend from the backstage of anonymity to the frontstage of performance. The weekend used to be a breath. Now it's a brand. I first noticed it in Mumbai, walking past a sunlit studio in Bandra where a dozen 20- and 30-somethings were shaping clay into mugs. They worked in silence, brows furrowed in concentration. Later, I'd hear from a participant who said, 'It just feels good to use my hands for something.' She didn't say she liked pottery. She said she liked using her hands. That's the language of intentionality, of meaning-seeking — a telling linguistic tic of a generation that wants its free time to say something about its inner life. And this isn't unique. From sourdough starters to film cameras, salsa classes to stargazing meetups, young Indians are filling their weekends with activities that are, consciously or not, acts of self-curation. Psychologists might call this narrative identity: the stories we tell ourselves (and others) about who we are and why we matter. We measure rest. We track joy. We optimise the weekend. In resisting the 9-to-5, we've built a 5-to-9 that looks eerily similar. The harder we try to escape productivity's grip, the more we reinvent it. Access and instant gratification To understand how we got here, it helps to look at the numbers. India is now home to over 600 million people under the age of 35, according to an S&P Global Market Intelligence study. In cities such as Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai, and Hyderabad, a new class of young professionals — many unmarried, many living away from their families — have both the income and the autonomy to shape their downtime. This demographic shift is seismic. A generation ago, weekends in India were not individual experiences; they were communal and obligation-heavy. Visiting relatives. Catching a movie with cousins. Running errands for the household. The idea that you would 'do something for yourself' on a weekend was, if not selfish, then certainly rare. But today's urban Indian is surrounded by different signals. Time has become a currency, and weekends are seen as investments: of energy, of identity, of social capital. The stakes are high because the time is short. And into this temporal vacuum has stepped an entire industry. To really understand the psychology of today's curated weekend, you have to travel back — not to the last decade, but to the 1950s and 60s, when India's middle-class was forged in the quiet discipline of scarcity. As Surinder S. Jodhka, a sociology professor at Jawaharlal Nehru University, points out, 'Consumer goods then weren't just hard to afford, they were often impossible to find.' Desire wasn't about acquisition. It was about patience. The good life was deferred, not displayed. Urban India, even then, set the tone — what was aspirational in Delhi eventually became meaningful everywhere else. But the post-liberalisation shift cracked that model open. The Nehruvian ethic of restraint gave way to a new moral order: one that celebrated access, aspiration, and immediate gratification. Today's weekend, in many ways, is a symptom of that transformation. The people shaping their Saturdays around calligraphy classes and handmade pasta aren't just spending — they're rewriting the script of middle-class aspiration. The good life is no longer about waiting. It's about choosing. The value of variety This growing demand for meaningful, shareable moments has sparked a surge in curated experiences. The idea once captured by the iconic Tata Safari ad — 'Reclaim your life' — no longer calls for a road trip or an SUV. It's happening in two-hour workshops and weekend retreats, micro-escapes designed to restore a sense of control, creativity, and self. According to Prof. Anirban Chakraborty of IIM Lucknow, 'This is part of a broader shift among young professionals: the urge to close the gap between the real self and the ideal self through curated, meaningful experiences.' He calls it an 'experience-seeking economy' — where value isn't just about relaxation, but variety, novelty, and narrative. The more diverse the activity, the richer the self-story. And in this context, even leisure becomes a kind of emotional labour. Borrowing from American sociologist Arlie Hochschild, we could say we're toggling between shallow acting (performing interest) and deep acting (genuinely feeling it). Pottery isn't just about clay — it's about who you are while shaping it. As Akash Biswas, a 29-year-old consultant in Gurugram, explains, there's a constant pressure to appear interesting — to have hobbies that spark conversation or shine on social media. 'Sometimes, in pretending to be curious, you actually become curious,' he says. He once tried a sushi-making class, signed up for improv comedy, and even joined a weekend hiking group. 'Improv really stuck with me,' he admits. 'It felt freeing to just respond in the moment, without overthinking — kind of like a break from the polished version of myself I usually present [to everyone].' And he's still exploring. 'I want to be the guy who picks up odd, cool hobbies — and who knows, maybe I'll actually like one of them.' Economic impact of curated leisure You can trace much of how Indians spend their weekends today back to the pandemic — a moment that forced millions indoors, nudging them towards slower, more tactile experiences. Suddenly, the kitchen wasn't just where you ate; it was where you created. Across cities like Bengaluru, Mumbai, and Pune, boutique studios began to crop up, offering everything from ceramics classes in Koramangala to calligraphy workshops tucked into Mumbai's Kala Ghoda Festival. Last month saw a series of pop-ups inviting people to try their hand at cyanotype photography or even brew their own kombucha — a strange, artisanal rebellion against the instant and disposable. Meanwhile, micro-retreats promising 'peace in 48 hours', complete with sound baths and journaling, have taken hold in places like Goa and Auroville. Behind this burst of activity lies a bigger truth: where identity lives, economy follows. India's 'experience economy' in Tier 1 cities is growing 30% year-on-year, fuelled by millennials and Gen Z, according to a joint study by Boston Consulting Group and the Retailers Association of India. This isn't just consumption; it's participation in a narrative economy — where your weekend is a chapter in the story of who you want to be. But it's more than just business, it's psychology. The modern urban professional never truly clocks out. Work seeps into phones, chats, even dreams. So free time becomes sacred. And it can't just be empty — it must be meaningful. A hike is wellness. A photo walk isn't just about light; it's about taste and style. Even 'doing nothing' comes with hashtags such as #DigitalDetox or #SlowLiving. Leisure has become a soft performance review — not of skills, but of sensibility. It isn't all performance Still, for some, the appeal isn't performance at all. It's access. 'Growing up, most of these things were either unavailable or unaffordable,' says Priya Yadav, a 31-year-old graphic designer in Bengaluru. 'Now I can try a pottery class on a whim. It feels like having a cultural buffet right in my neighbourhood.' That sense of possibility is echoed by Arjun Mehra, a finance professional in Mumbai. 'Growing up, eating out was reserved for special occasions — a treat, not a routine. Now, with food clubs and casual meetups, it's become a part of everyday life. I get to explore new cuisines and spots every weekend.' And it's not just about eating out; it's about being experimental, about tasting the world — from Korean BBQ pop-ups to Ethiopian injera dinners — and reconnecting with regional traditions. There is something undeniably hopeful here. After years of screen saturation, the return to analogue — the handmade, the slow — is more than a trend. It's cultural therapy. The people shaping clay or writing poems aren't posing; they're recovering something lost. 'The return to analogue is an intentional choice for many. There is something quiet about it. You have to zone in; you cannot be lost in your devices,' shares Varun Gupta, co-founder of the Chennai Photo Biennale (CPB), whose workshops, from cyanotype photography, film development and printing to Van Dyke Brown printing, are always sold out. He doesn't feel that the people CPB attracts are there to merely check boxes or share posts on social media. 'It's about tactility. People want to work with their hands; they are tired of typing and scrolling. Just being able to paint chemicals on paper is such a unique feeling that it kicks off a separate set of endorphins in your brain. It helps you rescript your day to day, and heal your soul,' adds Gupta. Building a new yet similar 5-to-9 And yet the paradox remains. The harder we try to escape productivity's grip, the more we reinvent it. We measure rest. We track joy. We optimise the weekend. In resisting the 9-to-5, we've built a 5-to-9 that looks eerily similar. Sociologist Hartmut Rosa calls this search for 'resonance', our deep craving to feel connected and alive. When leisure hits the mark, it does just that. But when every moment must resonate, it stops feeling real. It becomes performance. So, where does it go from here? If curated leisure is a response to burnout and alienation, its next phase may not be about more options, but a quieter kind of honesty. In the West, signs of this shift are already visible. 'Nothing clubs' in London gather people simply to be, while movements such as 'bare minimum Mondays' in the U.S. push back against hyper-efficiency. India isn't far behind. The same generation that gamified rest is now bumping up against the fatigue of constant optimisation. The next iteration of leisure may hinge less on what we do and more on how we feel doing it. Less proof, more presence. Because maybe the ultimate luxury isn't a kombucha workshop or a calligraphy kit. It's being boring — and being okay with it. So the next time someone asks, 'What did you do this weekend?', perhaps the most honest — and subversive — answer is: 'Nothing much.' And let that be enough. The author works in consulting by day and writes about culture, business, and modern life.
Calgary Herald
6 days ago
- Politics
- Calgary Herald
Trump's move to block foreign students from Harvard sends shockwaves within Canadian circles
The Donald Trump administration's attempt to revoke Harvard University's ability to enrol international students is sending shockwaves through business and academic circles, with current and former students fearing that Canadian ties with the Ivy League school could become collateral damage in its escalating fight with the White House. Article content Last Thursday, Trump announced he was stripping Harvard's access to the government database known as the Student and Visitor Exchange Program that manages international students attending U.S. universities. The order would effectively quash the Cambridge, Mass.-based school's licence to enrol and keep its non-United States students, translating into a potential loss of more than 6,000 students, including 769 Canadian students and scholars currently enrolled at the school. Article content Article content 'I fear that innocent Canadians who are studying at Harvard may get caught between the crossfire between two powerful forces: Harvard and the Trump administration,' said Nilam Ganenthiran, founder and chief executive of Beacon Software Inc., an investor in software companies, and former president of Canadian-American grocery delivery platform Instacart. Article content Article content Canadians represent Harvard's second-largest international student contingent, with enrolment remaining largely consistent over the past decade. The school boasts a long list of Canadian alumni, including Prime Minister Mark Carney, who graduated with a degree in economics in 1987, alongside notable academics, businesspeople and athletes. Article content Canada's relationship with Harvard dates back at least 70 years; the school has been certified by the U.S. government to enrol international students under the F-1 student visa program since 1954. Article content Article content But the White House has repeatedly accused Harvard of failing to combat antisemitism on campus, which it cites as justification for its actions against America's oldest university. Article content Article content Harvard responded to Trump's order last week by suing the government in federal court, accusing the administration of 'clear retaliation for Harvard exercising its First Amendment rights' to make its own decisions about how to govern the school, the lawsuit said. Article content 'With a stroke of a pen, the government has sought to erase a quarter of Harvard's student body, international students who contribute significantly to the university and its mission,' the complaint said. Article content A federal judge temporarily blocked Trump's order, preventing an immediate crisis for Harvard's international student body, but a hearing commenced on Thursday to consider whether the temporary measure should be extended.
